Also from this series...

Until 2003, US policy toward Iraq had been determined by three main strategic goals: ensuring the free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, preventing any regional power from dominating the Gulf, and defending Israel. Jeb Sharp traces how Washington alternately shunned and cultivated Baghdad, and how US policy toward Iraq evolved after 9/11.

Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq in 1979. His rule was ruthless, his politics totalitarian, and his relations with neighboring countries notorious. Jeb Sharp chronicles Saddam Hussein's rise to power and the brutal tactics and clan politics he employed to stay there until his fall in April 2003.

When the British and French divided their spoils after World War I, Britain got three former provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which became Iraq. Jeb Sharp describes the Anglo-Iraqi relationship and its legacy.